Marine engine



Oct. 9, 1928.

E. L. GRlNDLE MARI NE ENGI NE Filed Nov. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mull ng I I I x n I mum": gm

Oct. 9, 1928.

1,687,288 E. 1.. GRINDLE MARINE ENGINE Filed Nov. 2, 1926 2 Sheets-She et 2 I 4 ,ZI ZI/WZOr- II/ 45 I I Patented Oct. 9, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EARLE mn'woon GRINDLE, or 'nnns'wonrn, MAINE.

MARINE Enema Application filed; November 2, 1928 Serial. No. 145,780.

not available to the user ot a marine engine. Ithe result is that a purchaser of a marine engine today is obliged to pay considerably more for engines of moderate horse power than is charged for automdbile engines of the same power. It is, therefore, an important obj'ect'of this invention to so modify a standard automobile engine that it wil l 'be entirely satisfactory formari'ne use. v

The invention will be herein disclosed in Connection with the welh known Ford Willi i0.- mobile engine whichis both inexpensiveand eflicient. The invention makes it' possible to convert this engine at acomparatively small expense into an efiicient marine'engine, t

toa'l expense, including the initial cost of the engine and the expense for modification, being very substantiali-y less than expense for a marine engine of equal efiiciency and power.

The nature oitheinvention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, k Figure 1 is a lan view of a portion of a Ford engine modified in accordance with this invention; I I

Fig; 2 is a side. elevation of theconstmction shown in Fig. 1'; Y I Fig. 3 is a longitudinal, cross-sectional view of the mechanism, certain parts being shown in elevation;

Fig. 4: is a transverse, cross-sectional view of part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the planetary gearing hereinafter described. I In the drawings, 1 represents the crank shaft of the engine and 2 the propeller shaft.

Fast on the crank shaft 1 is the usual fly wheel 3 carrying, as usual, three compound or triple planetary -pinions 4, 4, 4, Figs. 3, 4' and '5.

. ithanfthe crank shaft. of the brake drumistops. the rotation of the The standard: Ford automobile engine includes a. transmission mechanlsm through which: the crank shaft/1 drives the propeller shaft 2. This mechanism comprises the set of triple pinions 4,.4,4 above reterred to, and

also a reversing drum, a low speed drum and a. brake As is well understood by those familiar With these engines, these three dr umsarezprovided with sleeves telescopically fitting one within. the other, said sleeves being provided at their forward ends with pinions, each meshing with one of the pinions of each triple pinion 4. When the engine, is driving full speedv ahead the crank and propeller shafts are connected together through a clutch and the three drums and the planetary pini'ons all rotate idly around the: axis of the crank shait, there being no motion of the planetary pinions on. their own axes. By releasing the clutch and stopping the rotation of the reversing drum, the. planetary pinions are caused to roll on the pinion at the end of the sleeve of the reversing drum, and thereby they arecaused to reversely rotate the brake drum and propeller shaft. Or, it the rotah tion of the low speed. drum is stopped while the clutch is out, then the planetary pinions roll around upon the gear on the sleeve of said. low speed drum so that the brake drum and propeller shaft are caused to lag, but travel in. a forward direction at a slowerspeed Stopping the rotation propeller shaftfor the reason that this drum rigidly connected. with the propeller shaft.

Thusin the ordinary Ford automobile motor or power plant there are two speeds .aheadand. one reverse speed... The slow forward. speed is of no use for marine purposes, and the reverse speed is too slow. The present. invention, by making simple changes in the engine, overcomes these objections. It also PI'OVldQS: a simpler control mechanism.

In modifying a Ford automobile engine to provide a marine engine in accordance with my invention, the brake drum 5 and the low speed drum 6 are madeinto one unit which two bra-kc mechanisms not, shown) cooperatbe done by welding the same together as indicated at. 7,. Fig. 3,0:E the drawings. The

ing with these drums in the ordinary Ford transmission are dispensed with, and the usual pinion (not shown) at the forward end i of the brake drum sleeve 8, which in the standard transmission cooperates with the pinion 'nmmbers 4 ofthe planetary pinions connected by an adjustable link 12 with an arm 13 fast on the shaft 14 of the brake mechanism for the reversing drum 15.

The sleeve 16 of the lowspeed drum 6 is, as usual, provided at its forward end with gear teeth 17 in mesh with the intermediate members 4 of the planetary pinions, while the sleeve 18 of the reversing drum is provided at its forward end with gear teeth 19 meshing with the rear pinions 4 of the planetary pinions. The usual clutch located inside the brake drum 5 is retained and includes a set of friction disks 20 which are keyed to the brake drum or driven member 5, as usual, these disks cooperating with another set of friction disks 21 keyed to the periphery of a clutch drum or driving member 22 which is keyed to the crank shaft 1 of the engine.

Bearing against the clutch disks is a pressure ring 23 provided with studs, one of which is shown at 24, that project through holes in a flange or member 25 having a hub that is rigidly fixed to the propeller shaft 2. The flange 25 is fastened, as usual, by screws 26 to the rearend of the drum 5 and carries a series of radially disposed levers, one of which is shown at 27. These levers are fulcrumed at 28 on the fiange25 and have their inner ends cooperatively disposed with relation to the forward end of a sleeve 29 slidably mounted upon the propeller shaft 2. The sleeve 29 is provided with an annular groove to receive studs 31 projecting from a yoke which is mounted on a rock shaft 33. At one end the rock shaft extends through the wall of the housing, Figs. 1 and 2, and a lever 34 is secured thereto. The control lever 11 is provided with a cam arm 11 having an elevated dwell portion 11 concentric with the axis of the stud l0 and a receding portion, or drop,11. This cam arm acts onan adjustable screw 35 carried by one of the arms of the lever 34. A spring 36, Fig. 3, mounted between the sleeve 29 and an abutment collar 43 acts through the levers 27 to set the clutch or hold it in, and this spring also yieldingly urges the screw 35 of the lever 34 toward the cam 11 When the control lever 11 is thrown forward to the limit of its movement, as indicated by dot and dash lines, Fig. 2, the drop 11 of the cam passes beyondthe screw 35, and the spring 36, acting through the connections just described, sets the clutch. At this time, therefore, the crank shaft of the engine 1 and the propeller shaft 2 will be connected together through the clutch and they will revolve in unison. This is the condition for full speed forward.

The ordinary Ford engine transmission includes a brake band 38, Fig. 4, extending around the reverse drum 15, the ends of said band being punched to receive the shaft 14. A spring 40 tends to expand theband. The arm 13, above mentioned, is secured to the outer end of the shaft 14 and this arm is provided with a hub having cam lugs 41 cooperating with cain lugs 42 on the engine housing. As the control lever 11 is thrown into its forward position it acts through the link 12 and the arm 13 to rock the shaft 14 in a direction to'cause the cam lugs 41 to ride down on the lugs 42, thus permitting the spring 40 to shift the shaft 14 endwise and expand the brake band 38 so as to free it from the reversing drum 15. When the control lever 11 is shifted from its forwardposition, Fig. 2, to its reverse position, as shown in full lines, the cam lugs 41 and 42 will 00- i operate to force the shaft 14 outwardly, thereby contracting the brake band 28 on the reverse drum 15 and stopping the rotation of the latter. This causes the pinions4i to roll on the gear teeth 19 at the forward end of the sleeve 11 of the reverse drum 15, thus rotating the triple pinions on their own axes and cansing the pinions 4 to act through the gear teeth 17, sleeve 16, and the unified drums 6 and-5 to drive the propeller shaft 2"in its reverse direction. As the control lever 11 is thus shifted from its forward position to its reverse position, the cam arm 11 acts through the screw 35, lever 34, rock shaft 33, arms 32, yoke 30, sleeve 29, and levers 27, to release or throw out the clutch, and it is maintained in this condition whilethe engine is in reverse.

The parts are so constructed that there is an intermediate or neutral position of the control lever 11 (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2) in which the screw 35 still remains in engagement with the elevated dwell 11 of the cam 11 so that the clutch is held out, and the cam lugs 41 of arm 13 lie between the cam lugs 42, Fig. 4, with the shaft 14 at the limit of its inward movement and the reverse drum l5free. Consequently, in this neutral position of the control lever 11 the clutch is released and the reverse drum is free so that the propeller shaft 2 is not then driven in either direction. I

It will thus be evident that when the changes above described have been completed the engine has a single speed forward and a single reverse speed. The entire operation of the transmission is under the con- I trol of a single lever 11. Due to the fact that.

the reverse speed is produced through the pinions 4 and 4 meshing, respectively, with the gear teeth 19 and 17, a much higher re verse speed is obtained than in the standard Ford, construction, the gear ratio in reverse giving approximately 96% of the forward speed.

Thus by making the relatively simple changes above described an engine is produced which is admirably adapted for marine work. 7 Due to the fact that Ford engines are manufactured in very large quantities and with the aid of much special equipment, the

present invention makes is entirely possible to buy a new engine and adapt it for marine use at an expense which shows a very substantial saving when compared with the cost of a new marine engine delivering the same power.

While 1 have herein shown and described the best embodiment of my invention that I have so far devised, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to embodiment in the precise form shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. In a marine engine, the combination with a crank shaft, a fly wheel thereon and a propeller shaft, of a set of compound planetary pinions rotatably mounted on said fly wheel; a clutch including a driving member fast on said crank shaft and a driven member connected with said propeller shaft, said driven member being provided with a gear meshing with one member of each of said planetary pinions; a reverse drive drum loosely supported by said crank shaft and provided with a gear meshing with other members of said planetary pinions; a brake mechanism for said drum; an operating shaft for said clutch, a lever connected with said brake mechanism to operate it, acam 7 arranged to be operated by said lever, and

connections between said cam and clutch shaft whereby said lever controls the opera tion of the clutch.

2. In a Ford automobile engine wherein the brake mechanisms for the brake and low speed drums are dispensed with and said drums fastened rigidly together, and wherein the usual gear on the brake drum sleeve is clutch out when said lever is in either its neutral or reverse positions.

EARLE LIN'WOOD GRINDLE. 

